Triumphal in Tripoli

Bedecked with green flags and oversized billboards glorifying Muammer Gaddafi, Tripoli is staging a week-long extravaganza to mark the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought the colonel to power in Libya. His guests will be treated in the capital today to a military parade, an air acrobatics show and a spectacle in an open-air theatre by the waterfront in which 800 French dancers will present the story of the north African country and its "Great First of September" revolution. Libya's 6m people might wonder what the fuss is about. The benefits they have seen from the country's oil riches over the past four decades are modest in comparison to its wealth and to the achievements of other oil producers in the region. Most Libyans earn small salaries, and for the young, jobs are scarce. Above all, they have no say in how their affairs are run or how the nation's wealth is spent. Others around the world, however, might be outraged rather than merely puzzled by the triumphant images emerging from Tripoli. The anniversary falls on the heels of a global uproar, provoked by Scotland's decision to release the convicted bomber of the American airliner that was blown up over Lockerbie in 1988, and the hero's welcome granted to Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi upon his return home.

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